Good stuff! Though my uncle and his brothers campaigned a small block Chevy gasser in the South during the 60's your photos take me back to that golden time in GA. Drag Racing is great today but can't compare if you were a part of the sport in the 60's & 70's.
Keep 'em coming...

Chris, My dad, Denny Russell, Joe Leamen, Mac Mccord, Glen Stephenson, had just finished the willys. They T&T ran the car and later were at a resturaunt having dinner. Peering out the window at the car on the trailer in primer. They were trying all day to come up with a name. One of the guys was eating a hard candy called Sour Grapes, and flipping it around in his hand. He jokingly said, thats it, Sour Grapes. My dad liked the idea and the threw the candy into the stands on the return road back after every pass.

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Unless you got the balls to say who you are to throw another man under the bus, then you are just another coward. Your facts are fairy tales unless you can man up and be a boss.

I like looking at all the people in the back ground, very interesting stuff everywhere.

My dads willys, pictured at left is Dave Anderson. He was a family friend, he was one of the best kid teasers I remember growing up. He later bought the willys from my dad for 6 grand, 392 hemi and all. I wish you could get the same deals today. My dad used the money to pay toward his 1st funny car.

He bought the Flying Dutchman 68/69 charger and ran it in 69-70 seasons. This has been debated before about the car, it has a 68 front end and a 69 back end, I guess thats maybe something you get when your getting some help from a manufacturer and the body idea is not yet set in stone. The other mystery is the dates that my dad had the car. His album I have specifically stated 1969 as the year he 1st ran it under its new name, Sour Grapes, he kept pretty good records.

This is how Dave painted the willys, carrying the same name.

Sorry maybe a repost, great picture though. This car was track champion at Bunkerhill 3 years straight. He ran in a couple different classes depending on fuel choice. The a lot of racers would wait at the tech sign in booth to see what class he was gonna run. then they would run in a different class to avoid the wrath.

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Unless you got the balls to say who you are to throw another man under the bus, then you are just another coward. Your facts are fairy tales unless you can man up and be a boss.

Probably the wildest car made. This is th Flying Dutchman Charger 3. It was a concept car with the thought of competing with the corvette in mind. The car was very short lived. It was unstable at about the 200 mph mark. The car made limited appearances at a few tracks. Al Vanderwoude was the owner, my dad Tom Johannsen was the driver for Al at the time. Al and another driver also made a few passes in the car, so they could try and figure out how to tame the ill handleing car. It was never resolved and the body was removed and replaced with a Maverick body. Al was a fantastic chassis builder, he tried so many off the wall things, a dare to be different guy. Almost always had a big smile going on.

Al Vanderwoude

This is the body hanging from the rafters of Grand Spalding Dodge.

__________________
Unless you got the balls to say who you are to throw another man under the bus, then you are just another coward. Your facts are fairy tales unless you can man up and be a boss.